WP Engine partners with BigCommerce to scale WordPress stores. WP Engine announced Commerce Connect, a safe way to scale to a modern platform without changing the current design, SEO, or user experience. WP Engine announced Commerce Connect, a partnership with BigCommerce that enables ecommerce stores to scale to the next level without any downtime or changes to SEO. Most importantly, Commerce Connect is not about replacing platforms but enabling a safe way to modernize and grow to the next level while preserving everything about the brand. What WP Engine announced is about helping ecommerce stores migrate their business without downtime while also preserving SEO. Scaling and modernizing an ecommerce store can negatively impact search visibility, but WP Engine's Commerce Connect solves that problem by preserving all of the WordPress SEO, design, and user experience, making the choice to scale a business an easy one. Heather Brunner, Chairwoman and CEO at WP Engine, explained: "Growing ecommerce brands shouldn't have to choose between the WordPress experience they've invested in and the commerce capabilities they need to scale, our partnership with BigCommerce gives brands the flexibility to scale confidently, adapt as their business evolves, and build for what's next." That part about "what's next" is important because of the profound changes introduced by AI shopping, which Commerce Connect can address. The official announcement shares how Commerce Connect works: "By connecting BigCommerce's enterprise commerce platform with WP Engine's platform, high-growth midmarket brands can scale their ecommerce capabilities while leveraging the power of WordPress. Keeping content and commerce connected also helps brands maintain consistent product information across their digital experiences, creating richer shopping journeys while strengthening product visibility as AI-powered search and discovery continue to evolve." Interview with VP of Product at WP Engine. Search Engine Journal had the opportunity ask more questions about Commerce Connect, Keith Fafel, VP of Product at WP Engine provided answers that should help ecommerce stores understand how the new product can help them. Not about replacing platforms. What are the signs that a WordPress-based ecommerce store may need to modernize and step up to a more capable ecommerce solution? What advantages does Commerce Connect provide merchants who find themselves outgrowing WooCommerce and are ready to grow their business to the next level? Fafel explained that this is not about replacing WordPress: "We see WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce as solving a broader growth and platform challenge, while helping growing brands scale with confidence. It's not about replacing one platform with another. Each ecommerce solution takes a different approach to helping brands create a successful online store. We want to keep growing the WordPress ecosystem, and this solution provides optionality for scaling ecommerce sites. WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce provides several advantages to merchants. The biggest advantage is that it enables them to preserve the WordPress experiences they've already built while adding the enterprise commerce capabilities needed to support larger catalogs, higher traffic, and continued growth." How Commerce Connect preserves SEO. Many businesses invest heavily in content, SEO, and custom WordPress experiences before they outgrow their ecommerce platform. How does this partnership help them preserve those investments while continuing to grow? WP Engine's Keith Fafel responded: "WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce preserves build investments by allowing brands to keep their existing WordPress content, themes, custom designs, URL structures, and SEO foundation. Instead of rebuilding the consumer-facing experience, brands can modernize the commerce platform underneath it, reducing disruption while gaining the scalability and capabilities needed for continued growth." A safe path to scale ecommerce and keep what works. How does this partnership change what's possible for WordPress merchants that wasn't practical before? Fafel answered: "This partnership gives growing WordPress brands a new path to scale. Instead of choosing between preserving the digital experiences they've built or adopting more advanced commerce capabilities, they can now do both. This means merchants can continue to scale while preserving the content, design, SEO, and customer experiences that drive their business. This solution provides WP Engine customers with a choice for how they operate and scale their ecommerce business, while keeping them in the WordPress ecosystem." That is an interesting answer because it underlines that Commerce Connect is not a replacement for WordPress, it's a way to preserve all the things that work with the WordPress platform while also modernizing and scaling. What kinds of business benefit from Commerce Connect? I asked WP Engine's Keith Fafel to tell us what kinds of businesses stand to benefit the most from WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce, and what are the characteristics of a brand that needs to modernize with Commerce Connect. Fafel explained that high-growth brands that feel they're reaching the limits of their current platform stand to benefit: "WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce is designed for high-growth, mid-market brands generating <$1M in GMV that are reaching the next stage of their ecommerce journey. They typically have established WordPress websites with significant investments in content, design, and SEO, and are experiencing growing product catalogs, higher traffic, and more complex commerce needs. Rather than rebuilding what already works, these businesses want a way to modernize their commerce capabilities while preserving the digital experiences that have helped drive their growth." What capabilities do businesses typically discover they need as they scale and how does BigCommerce provide that? Fafel answered: "As merchants grow, they typically need to support larger product catalogs, higher traffic volumes, more complex operations, and need greater flexibility to adapt as their business evolves. Through our partnership with BigCommerce, the platform gives brands an enterprise-ready commerce foundation that scales with those needs, while allowing them to preserve the WordPress experiences that already drive their business."

WP Engine Brings BigCommerce to WordPress in New WooCommerce Challenge. * News * Written by - Jyolsna JE * 31 July 2026 Table of contents. WP Engine has announced a strategic partnership with Commerce, the AI-driven commerce company formerly known as BigCommerce Holdings. The partnership introduces WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce, a solution designed to help growing mid-market businesses modernize their commerce stack without rebuilding their existing WordPress websites. Commerce, which rebranded in August 2025, is the parent company of BigCommerce, Feedonomics, and Makeswift. According to the announcement post, the offering allows businesses to preserve their existing WordPress themes, custom front-end experiences, and SEO investments while upgrading their commerce platform. The company also says sites remain online during migrations, helping reduce implementation risk and business disruption. In a LinkedIn post announcing the partnership, Heather Brunner, Chairwoman and CEO of WP Engine said, "Brands should never have to choose between a rich, creative digital experience and scalable commerce infrastructure. With this launch, we are bridging that gap, allowing businesses to preserve their hard-earned WordPress SEO and design while unlocking enterprise-grade commerce capabilities." She also described the launch as a response to changing customer behavior driven by AI-powered discovery, "The future of digital growth lies in unifying content and commerce. In an AI-powered world, content is the storefront. It's how customers discover, trust, and engage with products." BigCommerce also acknowledged the announcement on LinkedIn, writing, "This partnership is all about giving brands more flexibility. Excited to partner with the WP Engine team on this." Commerce CEO Travis Hess said brands increasingly need flexible commerce platforms as they sell across more channels and adapt to AI-powered shopping experiences. "Commerce is becoming more complex as brands compete across more channels, more customer touchpoints, and now AI-powered buying experiences. Our partnership with WP Engine gives brands and agencies an open, flexible foundation that brings content and commerce together." Continuing WP Engine's enterprise push. The partnership follows a series of enterprise-focused announcements from WP Engine this year. In January, the company acquired Big Bite, an enterprise digital agency known for developing editorial workflows for global brands and media organizations. It followed that acquisition with the launch of WP Engine Newsroom platform in February, expanding its offerings for enterprise publishers. Commerce Connect builds on that strategy by extending WP Engine's focus beyond content management into enterprise commerce. A new option for WordPress commerce. Although WooCommerce is never mentioned in the announcement, the comparison is difficult to avoid. WooCommerce remains the dominant eCommerce solution for WordPress and is owned by Automattic. According to GravityKit's 2026 analysis, WooCommerce was detected on 6.64% of all measurable web origins as of May 2026. Rather than competing directly with WooCommerce as a plugin, Commerce Connect offers an alternative architecture where WordPress serves as the presentation layer while BigCommerce handles commerce operations. It introduces another enterprise-focused commerce option for organizations that want to continue using WordPress without relying on WooCommerce. Matt Mullenweg responds. WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg reacted to the announcement on X: "Wow, @wpengine and @BigCommerce... maybe two turkeys can make an eagle? Congrats on the partnership! I look forward to seeing how you combine revolutionary Open Source with legacy proprietary commerce, with the strings being held by extractive PE, hat tip @silverlake_news." Mullenweg also shared Commerce.com Inc.'s long-term stock price chart, highlighting the company's decline since its public listing. The chart shows the stock has fallen by roughly 96% from its peak, dropping from well over $100 per share to just above $3. Brian Gardner, Head of Community at WP Engine, shared, "I love that we can give growing brands true enterprise power while keeping them right where they want to be - on WordPress.".

News & articles. At ConnectWeb Connectweb has a team of editors and researchers collating the most relevant information to you and your industry. All Directories' publications and sites provide a wealth of information for research or marketing, and are used by public and corporate libraries, educational institutions, government departments, corporations and SMEs across the country. You are here: Home News Access the latest company news and announcements distributed through Medianet. Technology & Innovation 30/07/2026 00:18 WP Engine partners with Commerce to help high-growth brands scale without starting over. New strategic partnership will help growing brands modernize their eCommerce storefronts while preserving the WordPress content, SEO, and customer experiences they've already built AUSTIN, Texas-BUSINESS WIRE- WP Engine, a global web enablement company providing premium products and solutions for websites built on WordPress(R)[1], today announced it has entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Commerce (NASDAQ: CMRC), a data-centric provider of an open, AI-driven commerce ecosystem and the parent company of leading eCommerce platform BigCommerce(R)[2]. The new strategic partnership will launch WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce to help high-growth mid-market brands compete in the new era of content-driven commerce. Announcing a new strategic partnership: WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce will help growing brands modernize their eCommerce storefronts while preserving the WordPress content, SEO, and customer experiences they've already built. As eCommerce businesses grow, so do the demands on their storefronts. Larger product catalogs, higher traffic volumes, and increasingly sophisticated commerce requirements often outpace the platforms brands started with. WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce gives growing businesses a path to modernize their commerce capabilities while preserving the WordPress content, SEO, design, and digital experiences they've already invested in. "Growing eCommerce brands shouldn't have to choose between the WordPress experience they've invested in and the commerce capabilities they need to scale," said Heather Brunner, Chairwoman and CEO at WP Engine. "Our partnership with BigCommerce gives brands the flexibility to scale confidently, adapt as their business evolves, and build for what's next." By connecting BigCommerce's commerce platform with WP Engine's platform, high-growth mid-market brands can scale their eCommerce capabilities while leveraging the power of WordPress. Keeping content and commerce connected also helps brands maintain consistent product information across their digital experiences, creating richer shopping journeys while strengthening product visibility as AI-powered search and discovery continue to evolve. With WP Engine's Commerce Connect for BigCommerce, web teams will be able to: * Preserve brand experience and design investment. Existing WordPress themes, custom designs, and front-end experiences are fully retained, allowing brands and agencies to evolve a commerce stack without losing any prior creative or UX investments. * Maintain always-on commerce experiences. Sites remain fully operational during upgrades, ensuring uninterrupted customer engagement and revenue generation. * Protect SEO equity and web traffic. URL structures and site architecture remain intact, helping brands avoid traffic loss and maintain search visibility during platform upgrades or commerce transformations. * Seamlessly migrate WordPress content to the platform. Enhance eCommerce and content infrastructure without rebuilding the site or interrupting operations. * Reduce implementation risk. Agencies can implement modern commerce capabilities without complex rebuilds, reducing migration risk, accelerating delivery timelines, and minimizing disruption for client sites. "Commerce is becoming more complex as brands compete across more channels, more customer touchpoints, and now AI-powered buying experiences," said Travis Hess, CEO of Commerce. "Our partnership with WP Engine gives brands and agencies an open, flexible foundation that brings content and commerce together to help them create richer customer experiences, improve discoverability, and adapt faster as the way people shop continues to evolve." About WP Engine WP Engine empowers companies and agencies of all sizes to build, power, manage, and optimize their WordPress websites and applications with confidence. The global technology company serves and powers more than 5 million sites, providing premium, enterprise-grade solutions, tools, and services, including specialized hosting platforms for websites built on WordPress, industry-tailored agency solutions, and developer-centric tools like Advanced Custom Fields, NitroPack, Local, and more. Innovative technology and industry-leading expertise are why Pandora, Experian, Equifax, VMware, HubSpot, and Dell choose WP Engine. Learn more at wpengine.com. [[1]] The WordPress(R) trademark is the intellectual property of the WordPress Foundation. WP Engine is not endorsed or owned by, or affiliated with, the WordPress Foundation. About Commerce Commerce (Nasdaq: CMRC) empowers businesses to innovate, grow, and thrive by providing an open, AI-driven commerce ecosystem. As the parent company of BigCommerce, Feedonomics, and Makeswift, Commerce connects the tools and systems that power growth, enabling businesses to unlock the full potential of their data, deliver seamless and personalized experiences across every channel, and adapt swiftly to an ever-changing market. Trusted by leading businesses like Coldwater Creek, Cole Haan, Harvey Nichols, King Arthur Baking Co., Mizuno, Perry Ellis, SportsShoes, and Uplift Desk, Commerce delivers the storefront control, optimized data, and AI-ready tools businesses need to grow, serve diverse buyers, and operate with confidence in an increasingly intelligent, multi-surface world. For more information, visit commerce.com or follow Connectweb on X and LinkedIn. [[2]] BigCommerce(R), the Commerce logo, and other brands are the trademarks or registered trademarks of BigCommerce Pty. Ltd. Third-party trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owner. Contact details: * Images - CoBrand.jpg Announcing a new strategic partnership: WP Engine Commerce Connect for BigCommerce will help growing brands modernize their eCommerce storefronts while preserving the WordPress content, SEO, and customer experiences they've already built. Download - WPEngine-Logo-Stacked-Teal%26Navy.jpg Download ConnectWeb. ConnectWeb is Australia's leading publisher of biographical data, directories and specialist newsletters. With ConnectWeb you gain access to its comprehensive database of contacts and companies in media, government and associations. Connect with Connectweb.